Teves to be held at NBI detention facility in Bilibid
Former Rep. Arnolfo Teves (center), a murder suspect, is escorted by East Timorese security personnel for deportation to the Philippines at Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Dili on May 29, 2025. (AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — Expelled Negros Oriental 3rd District Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. will be detained at the National Bureau of Investigation’s detention facility inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, NBI Director Jaime Santiago said Thursday.
Santiago said Teves will be held specifically in Building 14, which has been loaned to the NBI by the Bureau of Corrections.
“’Yung NBI detention center ay nasa Bureau of Corrections, pinahiram kami ng Building 14, sa’min lang ’yon, sa NBI lang ’yon,” Santiago told state-run PTV.
(The NBI detention center is in the Bureau of Corrections. Building 14 was lent to us. It’s exclusively for the NBI.)
Teves will be transferred to the facility following a medical assessment by NBI doctors and booking procedures, Santiago said. He added that the agency would allow Teves to wait for his lawyer before being moved.
Santiago also assured that the former lawmaker will be provided with all necessary medical care while in detention.
Teves Thursday evening, landing in Davao City at 7:27 p.m. aboard a Philippine Air Force aircraft that stopped to refuel. The plane departed for Villamor Airbase in Pasay City about an hour later.
He was deported by Timor-Leste after being arrested by immigration authorities at his residence in Dili on Tuesday evening.
Teves faces multiple counts of murder and frustrated murder under the Revised Penal Code. He is the prime suspect in the 2023 killing of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo and others in what has become known as the Pamplona massacre. /dm
